Polio News and Research

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Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. Naturally occurring polio was eliminated in the U.S. in 1979 and in the Western Hemisphere by 1991; however, worldwide efforts are continuing towards eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.

Celebrating polio eradication efforts in India with 'Guarded optimism'

In part one of a two-part blog post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," USAID Worldwide Polio Eradication Coordinator Ellyn Ogden reports on the "hard work and dedication of the Indian government at the national, state, district, block and panchaiyat levels" that was required for the country to have a year free of polio.

25 Jan 2012

Pakistan's polio eradication program facing challenges after increase in cases last year

IRIN examines several factors that could be contributing to an increase in polio cases in Pakistan, "despite the launch of a National Emergency Action Plan for Polio Eradication" at the beginning of 2011. In 2010, Pakistan recorded 144 cases of polio and 192 cases in 2011, the news service reports.

24 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Opposing views of HHS' contraception rule; Health care costs and the liberal agenda

The administration's rule leaves the decision in the hands of patients, where it belongs, while respecting the rights of religions. It holds true to the original and wise idea that access to preventive medicine is a good idea for the nation's physical and financial well-being.

24 Jan 2012

Threefold increase in polio cases in Afghanistan concerns experts

The New York Times examines how after years of decline, the number of recorded polio cases in Afghanistan tripled in 2011 to 76, following only 25 cases in 2010, raising concerns among international health experts that polio is seeing a resurgence, "particularly since some of the cases erupted far outside the disease's traditional areas in Afghanistan."

19 Jan 2012

Assessing the cost of polio eradication efforts

"After more than a century as a global scourge and hundreds of thousands lives lost, polio may now be on the verge of being the second human disease wiped off the face of the Earth," Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, writes in his column for ForeignPolicy.com, "The Optimist."

19 Jan 2012

USAID's worldwide polio eradication coordinator addresses India's polio progress, global efforts

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog interviews Ellyn Ogden, USAID's worldwide polio eradication coordinator since 1997, about India's progress in eradicating polio as it marked one year without a confirmed case and discusses what the overall eradication fight looks like today.

19 Jan 2012

WHO's Chan urges new approach to preventing, fighting diseases at Executive Board meeting

"Countries need to change their current mindset to successfully tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the head of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday, adding that governments will need to explore new approaches to prevent and treat these diseases, which have quickly become one of the most pressing issues in public health," the U.N. News Centre reports.

18 Jan 2012

India applauded for marking one year without polio, but urged to also focus on other diseases

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Victoria Fan, a research fellow at CGD, and Rachel Silverman, a research assistant at the center, respond to India's marking of one-year since a case of polio was found in the country, writing, "While we applaud India for its commitment to reaching this milestone, let us not allow this recent success obscure the sorry state of vaccination in India."

18 Jan 2012

Afghan President Karzai urges Taliban to allow polio vaccination teams into insurgent-controlled areas

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday "urged the Taliban to allow teams conducting a polio vaccination campaign access to areas under their control" and "said that whoever hampers the medical workers 'is the enemy of our children's future,'" the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

18 Jan 2012

One year and no recorded polio cases in India

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that India has recorded no cases of polio for one full year - a significant benchmark for the South Asian nation and an encouraging development for health professionals fighting to eradicate the stubborn disease worldwide.

15 Jan 2012

HHS Secretary Sebelius helps India mark one year since last recorded polio case

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "administered polio vaccination drops to children in New Delhi on Friday as India marked one year since its last case of the crippling disease," the Associated Press reports (1/13).

13 Jan 2012

Despite one year without polio cases, threat of disease still looms in India

T. Jacob John, a former professor of clinical virology an the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, who has served on several Global and National Committees on Immunization and Polio Eradication, writes in this opinion piece in India's Hindu, "While one year has passed without polio caused by natural poliovirus, we can claim complete eradication only after we ensure the absence of wild and vaccine polioviruses in the population."

13 Jan 2012

Suing others for spread of disease ignores dynamics of infectious disease

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the CGD, and Richard Cash, senior lecturer on global health at the Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Global Health and Population, report on a lawsuit brought forth against the U.N. on behalf of some of Haiti's 15,000 cholera victims.

13 Jan 2012

Bangladesh works to vaccinate 500K children against polio in annual immunization drive

"Mobile health teams in Bangladesh are conducting 'child-to-child' searches to reach the remaining half million children not vaccinated during a nationwide polio immunization campaign launched on 7 January," IRIN reports.

13 Jan 2012

India marking health achievement in polio-free year but cautious optimism remains among some experts

"On Friday, India marks a huge public health milestone -- a year since a case of polio was found in the country -- a critical step in being declared polio-free and an achievement that many experts long argued was impossible," the Globe and Mail reports.

13 Jan 2012

India on verge of recording polio-free year

If India does not record a new polio case through January 13, "produc[ing] 12 straight months of polio-free surveillance data, it will be removed from the list of countries where polio is considered endemic, leaving only the other three," Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, Scientific American reports.

11 Jan 2012

END7 campaign aims to combat seven major NTDs by 2020

Launched today, the END7 campaign is dedicated to eliminating seven major neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as a public health threat to poor communities by the end of 2020.

10 Jan 2012

Nigerian leaders sign onto Gates immunization challenge

"Nigeria's 36 Executive Governors and the Federal Capital Territory have signed up to the Nigeria Immunization Challenge launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year," a Gates Foundation press release states.

10 Jan 2012

India's successful polio vaccination campaign could bring first disease-free year

"In India, a mass vaccination campaign involving more than a million volunteers reduced cases nationally by 94 percent between 2009 and 2010, from 741 to 42, and down to the single case last year," the Guardian reports, adding, "If in India as a whole there are no more confirmed cases before 13 January, the country will have completed its first year without a new victim.

4 Jan 2012

UNICEF aims to vaccinate 1.7M children against measles in DRC

A UNICEF measles immunization campaign in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) aimed to vaccinate 1.7 million children under age five between December 19 and December 21, IRIN reports.

23 Dec 2011

Polio News and Research

Further Reading

Celebrating polio eradication efforts in India with 'Guarded optimism'

Pakistan's polio eradication program facing challenges after increase in cases last year

Viewpoints: Opposing views of HHS' contraception rule; Health care costs and the liberal agenda

Threefold increase in polio cases in Afghanistan concerns experts

Assessing the cost of polio eradication efforts

USAID's worldwide polio eradication coordinator addresses India's polio progress, global efforts

WHO's Chan urges new approach to preventing, fighting diseases at Executive Board meeting

India applauded for marking one year without polio, but urged to also focus on other diseases

Afghan President Karzai urges Taliban to allow polio vaccination teams into insurgent-controlled areas

One year and no recorded polio cases in India

HHS Secretary Sebelius helps India mark one year since last recorded polio case

Despite one year without polio cases, threat of disease still looms in India

Suing others for spread of disease ignores dynamics of infectious disease

Bangladesh works to vaccinate 500K children against polio in annual immunization drive

India marking health achievement in polio-free year but cautious optimism remains among some experts

India on verge of recording polio-free year

END7 campaign aims to combat seven major NTDs by 2020

Nigerian leaders sign onto Gates immunization challenge

India's successful polio vaccination campaign could bring first disease-free year

UNICEF aims to vaccinate 1.7M children against measles in DRC

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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